Wilson's snipe. 343 



that he should not have mentioned the difference in the notes of the two 

 species, which in fact is as great as that between those of the American 

 Crow and the Carrion Crow of Europe. A decided difference of this kind I 

 am always disposed to consider as satisfactory in the case of nearly allied 

 species. While glancing over some of the numberless compilations that are 

 pouring their muddy waters into the great stream of human knowledge, I 

 was somewhat surprised to find in one of them an account of the American 

 Snipe, in which it is stated that it is a ivinter visitant in the northern States, 

 and will most probably breed farther south, without leaving the country! 



The American Snipe is easily caught in snares placed on the spots of mud 

 which it is wont to probe, and a good number are thus obtained by the 

 farmers' children, especially during very cold weather, when, the birds 

 having become emaciated from want of a good supply of food, they resort to 

 the small warm springs of our meadows, and there remain until the return 

 of milder weather. At such times and places, I have heard this bird utter 

 various curious notes, which I am unable to describe, putting themselves 

 into strange postures all the while, jerking their tails upwards, downwards, 

 and sideways, for several seconds at a time, while the head and' neck were 

 moved backwards and forwards, as if the bird had been in a fit. I never 

 saw this during warm weather, and am unable to account for it. 



It arrives in Pennsylvania from the south about the middle of March, 

 earlier or later according to the nature of the season, a month later in Maine, 

 and about a week or ten days after in Nova Scotia. We neither saw nor 

 heard of any in Newfoundland or Labrador, but they are abundant in the 

 interior of the northern parts of the Canadas. 



The young acquire the full plumage of the adult the first year after their 

 birth, when no essential difference is perceptible between the sexes, the 

 female being merely somewhat larger than the male. My friend Thomas 

 MacCuxloch, who has not unfrequently found this bird breeding, and from 

 whom I have received many of its eggs, was unable to say whether both 

 sexes incubate, although this is very probable, as the male is often seen with 

 or near the female while she is sitting, excepting towards evening or in the 

 early part of the morning, when he mounts into the air, as if for the purpose 

 of congratulating her by his curious song. It often happens that before these 

 birds depart in spring, many are already mated. The birds are then met 

 with in meadows or on low grounds, and, by being on the spot before 

 sunrise, you may see both mount high in the air in a spiral manner, now 

 with continuous beats of the wings, now in short sailings, until more than a 

 hundred yards high, when they whirl round each other with extreme 

 velocity, and dance as it were to their own music; for at this juncture, and 

 during the space of five or six minutes, you hear rolling notes mingling 



